> I'm curious if anyone has noticed a significant taste difference between Japonica rice and those imported from China, Korea, or Vietnam.

Yes, but it's like somewhere between mineral water and coffee. That is, most can tell the difference when directly compared, and may even prefer one over the other, but in many cases they are interchangeable.

> Is one generally considered better tasting than the others?

IMHO, no, but you tend to prefer the type you eat most often. Going back to the coffee analogy, most people have a roast / style they prefer, but few would claim that it's better.

Isn't that likely to be the other way around? You tend to eat most often that which you prefer?

Granted familiarity itself can play a role when considering something unfamiliar. But when it comes to both rice and coffee I purchase what I do because I significantly preferred it to the variants I tried before it.

I don't think so, because there are too many things, but not enough time in life to find out your true preferences for them all, so we all are (to varying degree of) indifferent to most things, and focus on only a few things we truly care about. For you, it's coffee and rice; for others, it may be monitor latency and keyboard switches.

I'd used coffee as an analogy, because it's something that almost everyone drinks, has many varieties, but most generally aren't too picky about it. Alas, I'd underestimated the population overlap between HN readers and picky coffee drinkers. :-P

I'll agree people exhibit varying degrees of indifference to things. But where I exhibit clear preferences it seems to me it's because I took genuine issue with whatever I tried before that.

That said, someone out there is purchasing the $1k gold audio cables and similar items. So I'll acknowledge that not all people fit that description.

my mum once bought "japanese rice" from the supermarket that tasted noticeably different (and worse). had to check the label, turns out it was made in Vietnam.